How to Check Your Ping in "World of Warcraft"

Ping, or latency, in "World of Warcraft" is a measure of the time it takes the game to talk to the server. Ping is displayed as a number. The higher the number, the more lag you will encounter. Since "WoW" is an online game, high latency often means death if you're fighting an enemy. If your ping is high, your keypresses and mouse movements won't be in synch with the movements your character makes on screen, handicapping your ability to act and to react to your enemy. "World of Warcraft" once displayed latency as a standalone icon, but this icon was removed by a patch; latency is now displayed via the "Game Menu" icon in the game.

Start "World of Warcraft." Choose your character and log into the game. The character you choose has, for all practical purposes, no effect whatsoever on your ping.

Enable your micro bar. By default, the micro bar is enabled. If you have an action bar add-on installed, you may have to enable the micro bar from the add-on options.

Position your mouse over the computer on the right side of the micro bar. A box will pop up and display your latency. Latency of 600 or greater will normally cause noticeable problems; latency at or above 1,000 will cause severe slowdowns and lag.